Soap dispenser



W. H. ALTON SOAP DISPENSER Oct. 24, 1933.

Filed Sept. 20, 1932 a 5.. -lnh-.-

INVENTOR H. flfl BY M. 7 AM rfi wl.

ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 24, 1933 1,932,384

SOAP DISPENSER William H. Alton, New York, N. Y., assignor to R. T. Vanderbilt Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 20, 1932 Serial No. 633,963

6 Claims. (Cl. 221-94) This invention relates to a new dispenser, dethe ball and is discharged through the neck at signed for dispensing soap materials, and parthe bottom of the dispenser. I have found it adticularly finely powdered soap products in the 'vantageous to use a trigger for this purpose, wash-rooms of hotels, ofiices and stores and other particularly in dispensers for powdered soap public and semi-public places, etc. products. The handle of the trigger is outside 60 Many of the soap dispensers on the market are of the dispenser, and preferably some little disnot suited for use with finely powdered soap. tance from the neck so that the operator may With many, it is necessary to bring the moist lift the ball and discharge soap from the dishand which is to receive the soap near or in pensers without bringing his-moistened hands contact with the outlet of the dispenser so that near the neck, thus preventing the formation of 5 the powder becomes moistened before it is rea wet soapdeposit at the mouth of the dispenser. moved from the dispenser or the outlet is mois- An advantage of using a ball as the valve in tened or in some way the soap becomesmoistened a dispenser for powdered soap materials is that and accumulates in or at the outlet so that evenas the ball is forced up inside of the dispenser to tually the opening becomes clogged and the fremake way for the flow'of soap out through the 70 quent attention of an attendant is required. The neck, it agitates the contents of the dispenser and present design of dispenser is operated without prevents any arching-over of the powdered matecontacting thehands with the opening through rial in the storage portion of the dispenser, thus which the soap is discharged and avoids various maintaining it in a free-running condition at all difficulties inherent in prior dispensers and has times and ready for use. 75 many advantages, some of which will appear in I prefer to use a rubber ball, preferably a rather what follows. I large rubber ball, as the valve in my dispenser,

In many dispensers, the closing of the valve because the yielding surface of a rubber ball forms through which the material is discharged is dea'tight closure with the walls of the dispenser.

pendent on the action of a spring, and many Balls of various sizes may be used and the balls 0 such are designed in such a way that when used may be made of diiferent materials. Although for powdered soap materials the soap willacrubber is generally preferred, metal balls or glass cumulate in the spring and eventually prevent balls or variously weighted balls, etc. may be emcomplete closing of the valve when pressure on ployed.

the valve is released. This results in unnecessary Although the soap dispenser is designed parwaste of the soap. The preferred form of the ticularly for handling powdered materials, it may invention comprises a soap dispenser which is not be employed for dispensing liquid soaps, etc. In dependent upon any spring action to actuate the this case the valve is to be made of a material not dispensing valve, but the valve is closed by the attacked by the liquid. When metal or glass 35 action of gravity and the weight of the soap balls, or balls of other non-yielding material are 00 material. It is advantageous to locate any spring used in dispensers for liquids it is generally demechanism which may be employed, outside of sirable to grind the ball and the upper portion of the dispenser and out of contact with the soap. the neck to perfect roundness so as to insure a The body of the dispenser of this invention tight closure.

may be made of glass or a resinous material such The invention will be further described in conas a phenol resin, or it may be made of a metal, nection withthe accompanying drawing which is as by stamping it out of tin, for example. The illustrative and is'not to be considered as limiting storage portion may be circular in cross-section the scope of the invention. or square or of any desired shape. The lower Fig. 1 is an elevation of a dispenser partly in 45 portion is contracted to form a neck, or a suitcross-section; I ably channelled stopper may be inserted in an Fig.2 is an elevation at right angles to Fig. 1; opening at the bottom to form a neck through, Fig. 3 is a detail of a dispenser of similar dimenwhich the soap is discharged. When not in use, sions with a smaller ball ground into the neck the neck is closed by a ball which is drawn for a valve;

5 down onto or into the neck, or the sloping shoul- Figs. 5 and 6 are details showing the use of der leading to the neck, by the force of gravity a stopper to form the neck through which the and the weight of the soap material. contents of the dispenser are discharged; and

When it is desired to discharge soap from the I Fig. 7 is a modification showing a spring-actudispenser, the ball is lifted in such a way that ated lever for raising the ball. 55 the powdered or liquid soap flows down around The body 1 of. the dispenser showninFig. 1 may 11f be made of any suitable material such as glass or a resinous substance, or it may be stamped from metal, etc. Glass has been found to be attractive and desirable. The bottom portion is contracted to a neck 2. The ball 3 which is preferably a solid hard rubber ball serves to close the neck and stop the how of soap from the dispenser. The trigger 4 may be made of any suitable metal, resin, or hard rubber, etc. and may be made of a single piece, or the hammer end 5 may be made as a separate unit and fastened to the balance of the trigger. This hammer end 5 which projects up through the neck of the dispenser is so arranged that by actuating the handle 6, the ball 3 is raised and soap flows out through the neck. For this purpose the trigger is pivoted at '7 toa metal band 8 which fits around the neck 2. The band 8 is advantageously held in place by means of small holes 9 which coincide with lugs 10 on the neck of the bottle. It is advantageous to provide a slit 11 in the side of the neck for the trigger. The trigger may be so designed that such a slit is not necessary. The mouth of the dispenser is advantageosuly flanged as at 12 to assist in holding the band 8 in place. 1

'I prefer to employ a rubber ball as a stopper or valve because the force of gravity and the weight of the soap on top of the rubber ball cause a tight closure between the shoulder or neck of the dispenser and the yielding surface of the ball.

The size of the ball may be varied depending upon the design of the neck, the fineness of the powder and the rate at which it is desired to discharge the powder. With a larger ball, a larger amount of a given powder will be discharged through the opening at a given movement of the trigger than will be the case when a smaller ball is employed. A ball about two inches in diameter in a dispenser of cylindrical cross-section and the proportions shown in Fig'. 1, with a neck %ths inch in diameter has been found suitable for dispensing a very finely powdered soap material. I

' The dispenser is advantageously provided with a suitable cover 13. The cover may be laid onto the container or it may be fastened in place if desired. I have found it advantageous to fasten the cover to the dispenser by a screw 14 threaded into a lug or bracket 15 fastened on the bottom of the cover. An opening 16 in the overlapping rim of the cover coincides with an opening 17 in the wall of the dispenser through which a screw driver may be inserted into a slot in the head 18 of the screw to draw the screw through the hole 17 and then into the hole 16 to lock' the cover onto the dispenser.

The storage portion of the dispenser may be cylindrical or it may be square, oval or oblong in cross-section and the neck may be any shape, but the whole is so formed that the ball forms a tight seal at the periphery where it contacts.

A modified discharge device designed particularly for dispensing liquid soap is shown in Fig. 3. The valve is a perfectly round glass ball 20 which fits snugly into'the ground surface 21 at the neck of the dispenser. By manipulating the trigger 22 the ball is raised to allow the soap to flow out through the neck.

Fig. 4 shows a modification in which a stopper 25 is provided in which is a cylindrical opening 26 through which the end 2'7 of the trigger 28 operates on the ball 29. A portion of the stopper 30 is cut away to form a socket into which the ball 29 fits to form a tight closure to stop the flow of soap through the opening 26. The stopper may be made of rubber and any suitable material may be employed for the ball 29. To make a liquid-tight closure a ground glass stopper is advantageously employed with a perfectly round glass ball 29 ground to fit into the socket 30.

A further modification is shown in Fig. 5 in which a rubber tube or stopper is provided through the opening 36 through which the soap is dispensed. The pressure of the solid metal ball 37 on the yielding tube or stopper insures a tight To dispense liquid soap a channelled stopper such as that shown in Fig. 6 may be employed to advantage. The lower openings of the channels 40 in the stopper 41 are closed by the ball 42 when the ball comes to rest. By depressing the handle 22 of .the trigger, the ball is raised above these openings to discharge the liquid.

A still further modification is shown in Fig. '7 for use with aliquid 0r water-resistant pow der, etc. where a spring operated discharge device is not disadvantageous. According to this arrangement a plunger is used for raising the ball 51 to. discharge soap through the neck or" the container. The spring 52 holds the plunger out of contact with the ball 51. By depressing the spring the ball is raised and the contents cf the dispenser flow out through the opening.

The dispenser is supported from the wall or bracket by suitable means. a tapered block which is slid between the tapered walls of the bracket 61 which may be fastened to the wall, etc. by screws 62. fhe walls of the bracket are not quite perpendicular,

are inclined slightly toward one another and the sides of the block 60 are correspondingly bev eled so that when the block is slid into the bracket, it is held rigidly in place, and yet it is easily re movable. When the body of the dispenser is molded of glass or resinous material, etc. the I block may be formed as a unitary part of the dispenser.

Dispensers of this type, particularly the ar rangement shown in Fig. l are inexpensive to manufacture and form a simple and convenient arrangement for dispensing free-fiowing finelydivided materials such as soap materials, and may be used for other purposes.

I claim:

1. A dispenser for a powdered. soap product Figs. 1 and 2 show A ly to one side of the path of how of soap from.

2. A dispenser for a powdered soap product having an opening at the lower extremity, containing a ball which is independent of any posi tive operating connection with the bala ce of the dispenser and adapted to be drawn by gr avity to form a tight closure with a circular portion of the walls of the dispenser above the opening to prevent discharge of the soap product through the opening, and a trigger pivoted outside of the dispenser having a hammer end adapted to contact with the bottom of the ball and raise it, said trigger being pivoted above the discharge outlet of the dispenser and wholly to one side of the path of flow of soap therefrom.

3. A dispenser for a powdered soap product provided with a neck at the lower extremity, containing a ball which is independent of any positive operating connection with the balance of the dispenser and adapted to be drawn by gravity to form a tight closure at or above the neck, and a trigger pivoted to a part removably fastened to the neck of the positioned in such a way that when the handle of the trigger is depressed the hammer end will move up in the neck and contact with the ball and raise it.

4. A dispenser for a powdered soap product contracted at its lower extremity to a neck, a

bracket fastened to the storage portion of the the dispenser from a wall or other support, a ball of hard rubber with a yielding surface within the dispenser and independent of any positive operating connection with the balance of the dispenser, the ball being of a sufiicient size to form a tight closure with the walls of the dispenser on the shoulder above the neck, a. band around the neck, and a trigger pivoted to the band in such a way that by depressdispenser to support dispenser, the trigger being,

ing the handle of the trigger the hammer end of the trigger will be raised within the neck, so as to contact with the ball and raise it.

5. A dispenser for a powdered soap product contracted at the lower extremity to a neck, a slit in the neck, a ball inside of the dispenser which is independent of any positive operating connection with the balance of the dispenser and of sufficient size to form a closure with the walls of the dispenser and prevent discharge of the soap product through the neck and a trigger passing through the slit and so pivoted to a support outside of the neck that the hammer end when raised will lift the ball and allow the soap product to flow out through the neck.

6. Valve actuating mechanism adapted to be attached to an open ended soap dispenser comprising a band to fit around the neck of the dispenser, a pivot supported between the open ends of the band and a trigger on the pivot, the hammer end of the trigger being substantially centrally located with respect to the band.

WILLIAM H. ALTON. 

